Rifts and Repairs
by ravensbomb
Summary: Team RWBY are headed to Atlas, but a year apart has left its mark on all of them, some scars aren't so easily healed.
1. Some Friendly Advice

"So...lemme guess. The tall blonde we saw back in the academy...she's that one person in your team of four you clam up about any time the topic of Beacon's fall is brought up..." Ilia said casually as she perched on top of the railings of their Atlas bound airship.

Blake stared her down as she tightened the fastens on her long coat. Spending months and months in Menagerie hadn't exactly done much for her resistance to the cold. Ilia, rather annoyingly, didn't seem to be fazed by the bitter wind at all, only adding a long brown cloak to her attire Sun had let her 'borrow' when they'd parted ways with team SSSN back at Haven.

"Who told you that?" Blake hissed quietly. It had to have been Sun. The two of them had spent a good deal of time sparring together on the boat to Haven after all.

"Nobody," Ilia said softly, shooting her hands up in innocence. "Well...that's not, not completely true. You told me, through your speech patterns and your mannerisms. It's pretty obvious the way you practically shatter when she's nearby. She must mean a great deal to you."

"And yet I still can't find the damn courage to talk to her one on one," Blake brooded as she looked towards the living quarters of the airship, indoors and warm. "Instead I'm sitting here talking to you."

She could see Ruby and Oscar chatting away through the glass doors and Weiss seemed to be occupying herself with some maintenance on her rapier. She'd been awful quiet since Qrow had told the group where they had to go next. There was no sight of Yang though. She'd actively avoided Blake since they'd got on board. Which didn't exactly make hashing things out any easier.

"It must be bad then," Ilia smirked, drawing Blake's attention back. "If you find it easier to talk to me, the girl that betrayed you and your family, than your team partner."

Blake couldn't indulge in her dark humour with the mood she was in at the moment. She'd been so naive to think things could just go back to how they were. "That's just it, Ilia. You don't understand. You don't know what happened between us. It's...more complicated than I can put into words. More hurt than I ever thought I could bring on a person..."

"Doesn't sound like the Blake I know," Ilia assured as she hopped from her perch, sensing that her friend was on the verge of tears. "Definitely not the girl I saw rally a weary group of Faunus to go half way round the world to protect the name of their species. If you can do that, I'm sure you can sway anyone."

"It's not about swaying her, Yang," Blake stuttered. Saying her name still felt like a tonne weight in her throat. Tight, with enough emotion that she could probably choke on it if she tried hard enough. How she missed when saying Yang's name filled her with warmth and trust, not this deep, deep dread.

"How...how can I possibly undo so much hurt?" Blake whispered as she stared at the wooden deck with misty eyes.

"I don't know if you really ever can..." Ilia admitted. "What's done is done. You can't just undo that hurt. But you can try to repair it, make it better." The weight in her voice assured she was talking from experience. Ilia gave Blake a gentle nudge in the direction of the living quarters. "And I'm sure talking will be a really good start. A talk with just you two, no team mates, no fretting parents or...or Sun's. Say what you need to, and make sure Yang lays her cards on the table. No matter how much it hurts. You guys need to know where you stand if we're going to all work together in Atlas."

Blake hated how right Ilia was. There would be severe, maybe even fatal consequences if their team remained fractured because of the distance between herself and Yang. Salem would exploit that weakness like the manipulator she was.

"And what are _you_ going to do with yourself?" Blake asked sharply as she marched over off of the airship deck.

"Help Weiss do some upgrades to her weapon," Ilia replied with a soft smile. "Who'd have thought it huh? A good Schnee...still not sure I 100% buy it but she has a pretty enough face to keep me amused for a few hours at least."

Well there was at least some silver linings to having a heart to heart with Yang. Blake wouldn't have to watch her childhood friend, turned enemy, turned friend again, try to flirt terribly with her present best friend.


	2. Hard Truths

"Of course you'd leave me with a little present Mercury, you smug asshole," Yang complained under her breath as she carried out some much needed maintenance to the her robotic limb. Apparently the silver haired idiot had thrown and then smashed the prosthetic with his boots after Yang had left him grasping at thin air. Part of her wished she'd sent him rocketing across the room as she had Nora just for his pettiness.

The relic of knowledge sat to her left on the desk in her room, emitting a strange but somewhat comforting sound every few seconds. Each member of their group took turns supervising the gold lamp, it was never left out of anyone's sight at any time. They'd worked hard enough to get it back after all.

Yang particularly relished being around the alien object. It was a literal, glowing reminder of her victory in Haven. A victory she'd achieved with nothing but her brain and instinct. It felt good to know that she could still come out on top without physical conflict, since she still wasn't 100% sure she was fighting fit again.

Unfortunately, the sight of relic was also tinged with sadness. A reminder that Raven had left her again, valuing her life and safety above her daughter's. Yang had betted on her own mother's failures as a human being to convince her to leave the relic be.

 _Where did you run off to, coward?_

One more quick turn of the screwdriver in her hand and her prosthetic was one whole piece again, until the next time someone decided to throw it around without a care.

"Still scuffed..." Yang sighed as she ran her thumb against a scratched portion of yellow paint. That wouldn't get fixed until they reached Atlas, but it hardly mattered really, not functionally anyway.

A soft, single knock at the cabin door drew Yang's attention away from her work. Yang found herself automatically frowning as she made her way to the door, immediately knowing who that knock belonged to. Ruby would slam the door frantically with her fists in excitement and Weiss would hit the door firmly with three sharp knocks, without failure.

That tentative, unsure knock belonged to Blake. There could be no doubt.

Yang pulled the door open with her left arm slowly, meeting a nervous pair of amber eyes on the other side. Blake was gripping the sleeve of her jacket the way she always did when she was uneasy. That was one thing that hadn't changed.

"Hey," Blake said through a small smile. It was clear she was struggling to hold Yang's gaze.

"Hey," Yang replied quietly, still standing in the doorway as she felt her left hand begin to tremble, and fighting against it with all of her strength. How could this be all Blake had to say?! Just _hey_?. After everything?!

 _Calm down. What else was she gonna say to start a conversation?_

Blake glanced at the thin air where Yang's right arm should have been and then quickly to the desk. "Are you...are you busy right now? I can come back later if that would be better."

"Come back for what?" Yang said, feeling her throat start to tighten, the back of her eyes starting to burn.

"For you," Blake said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. The only possible answer to Yang's question.

Her tone took Yang off guard again, the same way it had back in Haven when Blake had surveyed the entire room, but only seemed to have eyes for Yang, only calling out to her. Yang felt herself take a step back, allowing Blake inside and closing the door behind her.

Yang took a seat at the desk, reattaching her arm and flexing her fingers as she watched Blake scan the room quickly, before opting to lean against the wall directly in front of her former partner.

"Is it...is it okay?" Blake asked softly.

"Is what okay?" Yang asked, knowing fine well what Blake was asking about. _Call it what it is._

"Your arm...Ruby said you were doing some repairs," Blake explained hesitantly. When Yang didn't answer, Blake swallowed hard, spotting Yang's lip trembling ever so slightly. The sight of it twisted her guts in a horrific manner.

"Yang...if you're not ready to talk that's okay, I promise. We'll take this at your pace," Blake assured.

"Nice of you to take me into consideration," Yang hissed, unable to hide the venom in her tone.

"If you have something to say, then just say it," Blake said with a tremble. "Don't hold back. I'm not worthy of that."

Yang shot to her feet at that and marched towards Blake, pointing a viciously shaking arm at her. Blake cowered back into the wall as Yang's eyes flashed scarlet.

"OH ENOUGH WITH THE PITY PARTY!" Yang yelled at the top of her lungs. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! NOT FROM YOU!"

"Yang I'm-"

"-You're going to let me talk!" Yang shouted as she grabbed at her shaking arm, trying to hold it steady. Blake had back even further away, fear evident in her eyes. The sight of it took Yang right back to that fateful night the bond between them had been severed by a shimmering red blade. She _hated_ seeing Blake scared, especially of her.

That feeling was enough for Yang to at least catch her breath, and inhale deeply. Every part of her wanted to scream at all the pain she still felt ever since that night, at how her heart had been shredded into pieces when Sun of all people confirmed that Blake had run away, had left her. But Yang really didn't want to terrify the girl in front of either. It was okay to not be okay Yang reminded herself, but it wasn't okay to shout at Blake and have look at her like she was Adam Taurus.

Besides, Weiss had advised her many times before she inevitably spoke with Blake, that shouting would get neither of them anywhere. Weiss of course had learned from experience that Blake really didn't respond well to yelling.

"I need to know why," Yang said firmly as she returned to her chair, hoping that would relax her a little. Blake's posture eased against the wall.

"Why?"

"Why you _left_ me," Yang stated sharply.

"I didn't want to..." Blake began with a pained expression, clearly reliving that night too. "Leaving you like that, it was the _last_ thing I wanted, I swear."

"But you left all the same," Yang replied with clenched fists. "Don't you understand how that felt? The emptiness of it all. I'd never felt so lost. And to do it after everything I told you about Raven, how she'd left without a word. You did the same thing."

Blake's eyes widened at that before looking away, guilt etched across all of her features. "I'm sorry, Yang. I'm so sorry. I know that's not enough, it'll never be enough to undo all the pain I've caused you."

"It's not," Yang agreed firmly before glaring upwards, daring Blake to hold her gaze. She didn't. "Blake. Blake look at me."

Blake's ears couldn't be bent down any lower. It was at least nice to see them not be concealed by a bow any more. They were almost as expressive as her eyes in a pretty adorable way, a sort understated adorable only Blake was capable of.

Only when Blake actually maintained eye contact did Yang utter another word.

"You still haven't told me why, I _need_ answers. If you have any intentions of repairing our friendship that is," Yang said with a pleading expression. Raven hadn't given her any answers as to why she'd left her as a child, not anything she could truly believe anyway.

"Of course I want to," Blake replied quickly, though her face was filled with doubt about how much things really could be repaired. "I was...I was trying to protect you, Yang. I'd tried _so_ hard to keep the demons of my past away from all of you, and I let myself believe for a few blissful months that I could actually move on from all that darkness, because of my friends, but most of all because of you."

Yang could feel tears building again, quickly wiping them away before they could fall. Weiss had been right then, about Blake trying to protect them from her mysterious past.

"And then all my nightmares came true on that night...my past and my future collided, darkness and light..." Blake murmured, her voice growing increasingly hoarse. "And _he_ almost extinguished your light forever...for a few minutes I was convinced he had." She smiled at Yang then. "But he didn't, he couldn't have. Your light burns too bright...plus you're way too stubborn for any of that."

Yang felt a small smirk creep across her face then.

"Adam vowed to take away everything I loved that night, and I know that monster too well to take his promises lightly," Blake continued. "I wanted to put as much distance between myself and my team as possible, and eventually, after wandering for a while I decided I needed to go somewhere I truly felt safe and could think things through, that meant going home, to Menagerie."

Yang nodded at that. She could at least appreciate Blake's desire to be with her family for some sort of stability and comfort. Patch had been that place for Yang during her own recovery.

"I don't blame you..." Yang said quietly.

Blake looked utterly confused at that, with one ear bent sideways.

"For what happened to me," Yang clarified. "I'd do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping you safe. Maybe I might not have thrown myself into the firing line quite so quickly, but losing my arm was nothing compared to the thought of losing you."

Blake's confusion drifted away, being replaced with absolute shock for a brief second before a terrible realisation sunk in.

"And I lost you all the same, in a way that I could never have imagined," Yang grimaced. "Nothing hurt me more than you running away, Blake, nothing in the world. I need you to know that."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know..." Blake murmured quietly.

"If you'd stuck around to ask you might have," Yang replied sharply before deeply inhaling and exhaling. "I want to trust you again Blake, I really do, but I need time. Some wounds can't just be fixed up with some fancy tech."

"I won't run away again. I swear," Blake stated firmly. "If there's one thing I've learned over the last few months it's that there's great power in unity, and that running away has only ever caused me and those around me more pain."

"I don't need you to swear to me Blake," Yang retorted. "Words might hold a lot of power and meaning for you, but I've been burned too many times by people talking big and falling short when I really needed them." She stretched her arms before pointing at the girl across from her. "I need you to follow through with those big vows of yours. You need to stand by your team and friends this time, and come to us for help when you need it, not turn tail when things get rough."

"I understand," Blake nodded.

"Just make sure to keep to it," Yang warned. "The last thing I want is to trust you like I did back then, and for history to repeat itself. I…I honestly don't think I could take it." With that Yang stepped towards the door, opening it and gesturing for Blake to go. That was more than enough heavy talk for this entire voyage.

"We'll speak again soon," Blake said as she passed, offering another small smile. Her tone suggested it was more a request of Yang than it was a statement of fact.

Yang only had the energy to offer a small nod as she closed the door over, her arm trembling furiously now that Blake had left the room, and tears rushing down her face. Opening up all these lingering emotional wounds was even more painful than she'd feared.

Repairing her relationship with Blake would be more difficult than she had initially anticipated. If it could even be salvaged at all.


	3. Arrival

"News of the battle of Haven will likely already have reached Atlesian shores by airship," explained Oscar, projecting Ozpin's voice, as he spoke to a full room of anxious people, growing ever more tense as they neared Atlas airspace.

Ilia feared they'd be shot down on sight, whereas Weiss assured such an extreme response was "unlikely". They'd bickered about it at length, Ilia using some fairly _choice_ words in regards to the Schnee family that Blake and Yang had both scolded her for at the same time, which was awkward enough in itself.

"They'll be on high alert, of that I'm sure. Especially given Headmaster Lionheart's betrayal, and the information he could have been feeding Salem all this time. Qrow's presence at our victory against Salem's agents will have reached General Ironwood's ears by now," Ozpin continued, sitting in a chair with a demeanour that simply didn't fit with his physical appearance. It made Blake feel uncomfortable in a way she couldn't quite describe. "I've known the General a great many years, he's head strong, but certainly not stupid. He'll want to speak with Qrow about the whole incident urgently, and keep our presence a secret from the council."

"So we're just going to announce ourselves?" Weiss questioned in confusion. "I thought we were going to be a little, well-", Ruby gave her a double thumbs up and a wide grin, "-on the down low..." Ruby awarded her with a firm shoulder pat for that.

"I thought you said the Atlas military shooting us out of the sky was _out of the question_?" Ilia chimed in sharply. Blake sent amber daggers her way, hoping her obvious displeasure would be enough for Ilia to keep her big mouth clamped for a few seconds.

"I said _unlikely_ ," Weiss hissed as she jumped to her feet, fists trembling. "Ilia Amitola, the next time you choose to misquote me, I'll be sure you're the first practice dummy I test my weapons upgrades on."

"We have nothing to fear from General Ironwood! Nothing to hide! We can trust him to keep our presence in Atlas a secret," Ozpin said firmly before a fist fight ensued.

"You sure?" Yang questioned, flexing her robotic arm slightly. Her posture was calm, collected. Blake couldn't help but note how differently Yang carried herself these days. She still radiated strength, there was no doubt of that, but there was an edge of something else to it now. Restraint, clarity. She wasn't just obeying orders with an open heart the way Ruby did.

"I'd say carting about the relic of knowledge and, I don't know, Ozpin still being alive and manifesting in a kid might be something we want to keep a bit more secret," Yang said quickly. "Ironwood made sure I could still fight, he made me this arm, but he weaponised it too. He's a military man through and through. It that really someone you think we can put all of our trust in?"

"I appreciate your concerns Miss Xiao Long, but I trust Ironwood's intentions and integrity. He joined my inner circle not for power or glory, but because he truly cared about the future of this world, he recognised the threat, how immediate it was, before many others, including myself," Ozpin admitted.

"The Atlas military police will be looking for me," Weiss softly voiced from the back of the room. All eyes turned to face her. Blake had wondered how Weiss had got to Haven in the first place, with Yang in tow apparently. The last she saw of the heiress at the battle of Beacon was Weiss being dragged away by her father and some Atlaseian soldiers.

"I escaped the Schnee mansion. My father lost his place on the Atlas Council not long before I fled, but that doesn't mean he doesn't still have significant influence in the Atlas military. The Schnee Dust Company has invested considerably into their tech and soldiers. He'll have ears everywhere. Especially around the General."

"Unsurprising," Ilia groaned under her breath. Blake pinched her arm for that.

"Keep your opinions to yourself for a second," Blake whispered before releasing her vice like grip.

"Then what do you suggest Miss Schnee? You were raised amongst the upper class of Atlas, perhaps you do have more in the way of first hand experience than myself," Ozpin spoke calmly, seemingly with a genuine interest in what information Weiss could offer.

"There's only one person in the whole of Atlas that I truly trust to not inform others of our arrival. To grant us, and more importantly the relic, safe passage until we can assess the situation on the ground and with the council," Weiss said with a small smile. "My sister, Winter Schnee."

Qrow furrowed his brows before leaning back in his chair. "Just so happens I have a direct line to the Ice Queen of all Ice Queens. Haven't used it in years, Winter's probably forgot I even have the thing, but if we transmit the correct code to her scroll once we're in range, she'll answer. Did only use the thing for emergencies after all."

Ruby side eyed him from the other side of the room before facing her partner again. "Are you absolutely, positively positive that we can depend on Winter to keep our arrival in Atlas secret? She did seem a bit...fiery, the last time I met her."

"Pretty ironic for an Ice Queen," Qrow chuckled to himself before swigging some coffee.

"I'm positive. None of you know Winter like I do," Weiss said firmly, making doubly sure to glare at Qrow as she spoke. "She might not be so obviously affectionate with me as Yang is with Ruby, but she loves me all the same, would lay her life down for me without a second thought. We can trust her. She's about the only person in Atlas we truly can."

Blake couldn't help but smile warmly at Yang then, who luckily wasn't looking her way anyway, too busy paying attention to Weiss. Ilia on the other hand, had been, giving Blake a very odd look. The same one she did any time a situation had warranted her to talk about Adam Taurus. Blake did her best to ignore it.

"I trust in your judgement, Miss Schnee. We'll communicate with Winter Schnee, and Winter Schnee alone for the moment, does everyone agree with this?" Ozpin asked softly. He was met with a room full of nods, some more confident than others but a nod none the less. "Good." He stood up from his chair. "Qrow, I suggest you and Miss Schnee contact Winter. The rest of you prepare yourself for a landing and secure the relic. We can't let anyone set there eyes on it."

Weiss and Qrow headed off to the cockpit, whilst everyone else packed away their things. They'd brought a bunch of empty dust crates with them, helping to serve their cover story as traders of highly specialised dust from the mountains of Haven, and just to be doubly sure and changed their outfits into more uniformed attire. Industrial worker's outfits with the symbol of Mistral emblazoned on the back. They were actual the official janitorial outfit of Haven Academy, but members of the Atlas military would know no better.

"Could you hold this a second?" Yang asked as she attempted to secure the lid of a crate over the relic. She seemed to have been asking her sister, but Ruby seemed to blatantly ignore her. _Strange..._

Blake found herself horrified a fraction of a second later as Ruby bumped into Blake's side, most definitely deliberately given the force behind it, and sent Blake flying right in front of Yang, who looked at her with wide eyes as she held out a hammer awkwardly.

"What...what did you need help with…?" Blake stuttered, trying to pretend that she'd misheard Yang and thought the golden haired girl was actually asking for her help, not Ruby's.

Yang seemed to find the whole thing awkward enough that she played along too. She passed Blake a heavy hammer, one that she struggled to hold with two hands, whereas Yang had no problem swinging it about with one. How she'd expected Ruby to hold it up Blake had no idea.

 _Guess she doesn't know her own strength._

"Just hold this while I line this up properly," Yang murmured as she adjusted the top of the crate. She looked to be struggling slightly operating the fingers in her robotic arm as she tried to grip the lid.

After stubbornly refusing to ask for help for a good minute, Yang finally turned to Blake who was trying her best to not look concerned knowing she couldn't possibly hide it. They might have been separated for some time, but Blake didn't care for this girl in front of her any less. If anything she cared more. Watching on helplessly as Yang bled out in her arms on the battle torn streets of Beacon had been the most harrowing experience of her life. It still was even after all the trials she'd faced since.

To have her here now, alive and determined. It stirred feelings that Blake had started to feel rising every time she dreamed about the good times with Yang back in her bed in Menagerie. The warmth they filled her with were almost enough to make the cold of her nightmares worthwhile.

"Sometimes it doesn't always respond exactly how I want," Yang explained softly. "Not like my real hand anyway."

 _Real hand..._

"Well...we couldn't be going to a better place to repair it. Atlas is the most advanced nation in the world after all," Blake smiled reassuringly.

"Weiss always did like to drill that fact into our heads didn't she?" Yang replied with a crook in one of her brows. "Advanced in every way except culturally."

Immediately, Blake knew what Yang was talking about. Neither of them had ever stepped foot in Atlas, but it was widely known amongst her peers in the White Fang to be the most inhospitable in its treatment of the faunus population. If Ilia's experiences and Weiss's bigotry when she'd first came to Beacon were anything to go by, this wasn't going to be a place Blake had much love for.

Blake helped to readjust the lid of the crate, passing the hammer to Yang without a word and holding it in place. Wordless communication had always been one of their strengths as a pairing.

"I've never been, but many members of the White Fang came from there, especially the dust mines. If the situation on the ground is the way I've been told...it'll be difficult to stay focused on just keeping the relic safe...I don't know if I can ignore all of that injustice," Blake whispered, using her heightened senses to make sure no one else had heard her.

Yang stared at her with wide eyes before placing a firm hand over Blake's which had began trembling on top of the crate.

"You're not ignoring it, it's just not...not the priority," Yang tried to explain before smiling again. "It's nice to see you still so passionate about helping the faunus though, don't get me wrong." She released her grip on Blake's hand.

She'd used her robotic arm without a second thought, the cold feeling of it against her flesh had nearly made Blake jump on the spot. She'd resisted thankfully. The last thing Yang needed was for Blake, the girl who'd caused the injury in the first place, to treat it like some alien object.

"Thanks," Blake replied softly.

"Just stay focused on the mission, okay?" Yang reminded. "The relic of knowledge cannot fall into the wrong hands no matter what."

"I always did have a habit of getting carried away," Blake admitted.

"Just don't make me lecture you again," Yang chuckled softly. "I don't have the temptation of a dance to get you back on the right track."

At times that night had felt like some wonderful dream. So far from the life and the trauma Blake and endured not long afterwards. How she longed for peaceful nights like that again, where all the worries of the world had disappeared as soon as Yang pulled her gracefully onto the dance floor. She'd read about nights like those before, but had never believed she'd get to experience that feeling of euphoria for herself.

Before Blake could make a sly remark in return she was deafened by a booming voice behind them.

"TEAM RWBY MEETING!" Ruby exclaimed at the top of her lungs, startling every body present. Weiss, who had been standing right beside her, looked just short of exploding as she massaged her temples.

"Guess that means us," Yang said as she dragged a slightly disorientated Blake to where the other two were standing.

"Just so everyone is crystal clear, attack combo names are still the same," Ruby began, with a life in her voice that had been missing of late. "I expect that some of you may be a little rusty in that department, but that's okay! We'll be working like a well oiled machine again in no time! Nothing will hold back Beacon academy's finest!"

"Is that everything?" Weiss groaned as she pull a thick winter hat over her hair.

"Nice hat," Blake commented dryly. It was way too big for her.

"It's to cover my hair. Blake Belladonna. I thought you would know a thing or two about disguising things on your head," Weiss replied sharply.

"GUYS!" Ruby interrupted with a swipe of her arm. "No fighting! No bickering!" Weiss folded her arms. "Weiss..." Ruby's puppy dog eyes were enough to make the Ice Queen shrug her shoulders in surrender.

"Good," Ruby grinned with a loud clap. "I want all of you to look out for each other on the ground. No matter what's happened before, what kept us apart, we all need each other. You know it in your heart. We might not be students anymore, but we're still a team. We have to move forward together, it's the only way."

The seriousness of Ruby's tone, the sincerity of her words, made the rest of the team nod firmly.

"Okay!" Ruby beamed. "Now GROUP HUG!" she shouted before bundling into the other three without a second thought. Weiss pulled at Blake's side with more desperation than she'd ever seen from her friend. A sign that she was far more nervous about being home than she'd ever allow anyone to think.

When they broke apart eventually Weiss wandered off to stand alone, picking up the case her weapon was held in and staring out of the window as their airship lowered. Seemingly whatever exchange that had occurred between Winter Schnee and Qrow was enough to get them permission to land in Atlas.

"Good pep talk, sis," Yang grinned as she gave Ruby a playful shove in the shoulder.

Blake watched the two of them interact from the rear of the room, not wanting to intrude. Watching Yang and Ruby together filled her with a sense of peace that she could never put into words.

Sadly that serenity was interrupted a few minutes later when the airship thudded against concrete in landing, quickly followed by the airships main door raising slowly. Icy cold air instantly filled the room, making Blake shiver violently.

They were here then.

Atlas.


	4. Good Liars

The biting cold of the air took Yang off guard as she stepped outside. It was hitting her from all sides like piercing daggers, making her desperate to be inside again. She'd never been any place this horrifically cold in all her days, and suddenly Weiss's icy nature made all the more sense. How could someone grow up here and not end up a bitter-

"Stop right there!" a firm voiced shouted from up ahead.

Yang could feel the beginnings of her semblance kicking in as she caught sight of three soldiers in white uniform, with their hands firmly on their weapons.

Qrow stepped forward, hands in the air. "Easy there, we ain't here to hurt anyone. We've got prestigious dust all the way from the mountains of Haven 'specially requested by Winter Schnee. We radioed ahead and were given permission to land by Specialist Schnee herself."

Yang glanced at the cargo they were carrying, knowing full well the only thing they contained were weapons and the relic. She shared a nervous look with Weiss who couldn't have had her hat further over her head if she tried. Even at this distance Yang could tell she was trembling in place. There was no way the cold was responsible for that.

"Permission or not, we still have to search your cargo. Those are the rules of the lockdown from the council," the solider retorted as he pushed Qrow aside and began marching towards Weiss who stared downwards.

Yang softly pulled her sleeve up to reveal her robotic arm, getting ready to fire it if things went badly. No one else had any weapons on their person and wouldn't be able to get them out of their boxes quick enough to use them.

Just before the soldier reached out for Weiss's cargo Ilia took a defiant step in front of her, stopping the solider from going any further forward.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Ilia warned.

"And why the hell not?" the soldier snarled.

"Don't you know how volatile this kind of dust is in untrained hands? Your Schnee mined stuff is a lot more stable than what we're carrying, but no where near as powerful," Ilia explained sternly.

The solider looked to be wavering slightly as he pulled his hand back a few inches. Ilia pointed to Yang. "Those are the consequences of handling this stuff without being properly trained. Her whole arm was blasted off in an explosion."

Yang want to shout across the airstrip at Ilia for that, using her disability as part of her lie. Unfortunately there was nothing she could say as the solider backed away from their group and back to his companions. It worked.

 _Ilia is a good liar._

"Just keep that stuff away from me," the solider complained as he swung his arm, beckoning for them to pass. "Specialist Schnee is in that hangar there."

Weiss gave Ilia an appreciative nod before walking over to Yang. "Please don't take that exchange to heart. Our entire mission would have fallen to pieces from the start line if she hadn't convinced them to leave us be."

Yang sighed, creating a huge cloud of air in front of her head. "I...I guess I just prefer being in control of the situation, fighting my way out if I have too. Not using my trauma as a sympathy card or whatever."

Weiss patted her on the shoulder before smiling. "As much as I would have loved watching you knock that soldier across the airstrip, I think a more diplomatic approach would be better for now. My sister only wields so much influence and power, there is a limit to how much she can realistically do to help us."

"What's diplomatic about lying?" Yang grumbled.

"Everything, Yang Xiao Long. There's a reason those in power are so good at lying to their people. Just look at Professor Lionheart. How long had he been feeding information to Salem?"

Yang felt bile rise in her throat as she recalled finding his body with Qrow. Whatever did _that_ to him couldn't have been human. The brutal injuries he'd sustained had made him almost unrecognizable.

Qrow hadn't seemed phased by the horrific sight whatsoever, covering the man's body and telling Yang not to go into details about what she'd seen. If Salem was happy to do that do one of her own people, what the hell would she do to her enemies?

"Too long," Yang shivered, suddenly feeling very sick as she gripped her left arm furiously. She glanced to her friends in front of her and the vastness of the warehouse they were entering, anything to distract her as she felt herself spiralling.

All she could smell was blood, whether it was hers or Lionheart's she couldn't be sure. It was potent, suffocating, causing red flashes to obscure her sight. It didn't take long for the sensation to overwhelm her as searing pain shot down her right arm, causing her to buckle over as her vision went hazy.

The smell of blood in her nostrils combined with the sudden agony in her arm made her want to vomit. Yang tore at her robotic arm, trying to pull it off in an effort to relieve the pain, but her brain was so hazy she couldn't get a good grip.

"Yang!" Weiss yelled as she caught her by her front before she slammed into the concrete floor.

Weiss's voice was joined by a chorus of others calling in concern as Yang slipped forward onto the ground, feeling her vision fade to blackness, trying to fight it seemed futile. Instead she welcomed it, anything to numb the pain.

Sterile, artificial lights were all that greeted Yang sometime later as her blurry vision began to ease. She didn't feel cold anymore. In fact this was the most comfortable she'd felt in days. A nice warm bed without the shaking of an airship or the hum of an engine to disturb her sleep.

This room reminded her of their hotel room in Haven, though the décor was much less warm. Wood and oranges had been replaced by whites and metal, an oil painting of a vast city with snow covered skyscrapers, presumably Atlas, was hung on the wall in front of her.

Yang jolted herself awake when she realized her right arm had been detached and was no where to be seen. Her violent flailing caused commotion at her bedside.

Ruby. Ruby and Blake.

They were fast asleep at her bedside, well they had been, judging by how startled they both look now. Blake's ears couldn't have been more upright.

"Yang. It's okay, you're safe," Ruby quickly assured, yawning loudly before she continued. "Well kind of safe, safe as we can be in Atlas.",

"We made it then…?" Yang half smiled before looking to a window in the room that was covered in snow. They really were here then.

"After you umm, fainted, we brought you to Winter who got us emergency transport right into the city centre, and a pretty nice hotel too. We've been here for a few hours and it's great! They have free coffee with sugar and you can have snow ball fights, it's so huge Yang you have no idea! Way bigger than Beacon or Haven! Way more advanced! Some of the weapons I've seen already are so off the charts cool!-"

"-That's great Rubes," Yang smiled going to pat her arm when she realized something was tightly gripping her left hand. Blake stared at her with wide eyes before wrenching her hand away.

"Sorry," she mumbled quickly before getting to her feet. "I should give you two some space and go see how Weiss is doing."

"You can stay!" Ruby insisted before looking to Yang with pleading eyes.

"It's okay, Blake. I don't mind," Yang replied.

"I appreciate it," Blake replied with a tiny smile, it was clear she didn't feel quite comfortable in the room. "But I should really get going and tell the other's you're okay."

 _I'm not okay._

Yang wouldn't dare say it out loud. Everyone seemed so convinced she was better. That maybe she'd just fainted from exhaustion or whatever, any excuse that avoided confronting the real reason. Someone as unstable as Yang still felt shouldn't be on such a vitally important mission. If any of them knew how much she was still plagued with nightmares, how loud noises made her blood run cold.

Her trauma hadn't stopped her fighting or made her any less skilful, but it had made it a hell of a lot harder to keep things together in the heat of a battle.

Only Weiss seemed perceptive enough to know that Yang was still really struggling internally, but even she was clueless to just how bad all of it still was, how it still felt.

"You guys still haven't worked things out?" Ruby sighed quietly after Blake had gone.

"Blake...everything is just so complicated with her right now..." Yang admitted. "Things won't just go back to how they were before. Every time I look at her...I can feel this horrible twisting in my gut. That she could leave at any time."

"You guys were so close back then, nobody made Blake smile and laugh like you," Ruby replied as she looked out the window.

"That's why it hurt so much, still hurts so much," Yang tried to explain. Ruby just didn't seem to get it. How could she? She'd never had someone betray her. Leave by choice. Summer Rose, Penny, Pyrrha. They'd all been taken from her by someone else's hands. Not by their own fruition.

Raven had left time and time again. Would Blake do the same?

"I just wish I could do something. As team leader I should be holding us together. It's my job," Ruby murmured to herself. Yang could tell she was trying not to cry. "We're supposed to be a team."

"Ruby," Yang said firmly. "Not everything can be fixed."

Ruby frantically wiped away a tear before turning around.

Speaking of broken things..." Yang murmured as she looked around the room again. "Where the hell is my arm?"

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, unsure how her sister would respond. "Well, since the arm was giving you problems we thought it'd be good to get it looked at and repaired by one of Winter's soldiers. She was pretty insistent about it."

"Who said I was having problems with it?" Yang accused. Only one other person really knew that it was malfunctioning something pretty bad.

"No one said, but Mercury kicked it around pretty bad before Blake managed to get it off of him using one of her clones," Ruby explained quietly, fear evident in her eyes. "And when you were fre – when you passed out earlier, you practically tried to rip it off."

Yang looked away from Ruby then, feeling a rush of shame at how weak she'd been at that moment, how easily she'd let her panic consume her. In front of everyone too.

"I'm, I'm sorry for scaring you sis," Yang sighed. "It won't happen again."

"It wasn't scary Yang. It made me worry. Worry that you're not being totally honest with me, with any of us," Ruby said with a frown. "Don't you trust me? Is admitting how you're really feeling the worst thing?"

"Yes!" Yang snapped suddenly. She was completely done with this conversation. "It's the worst thing! It makes _all_ of it real!"

Ruby stepped off of the bed with hands raised. "I'm just trying to help you. Keeping secrets from each other...it's not good for the team."

"Maybe show less concern for the team and more concern for the people in that team," Yang hissed. Team RWBY might have been together physically, but that didn't mean anything, there were so many unspoken problems and things they were keeping from each other. "Besides," Yang began, hauling herself out of the bed and feeling the blood rush to her head. "Secrets can't be that big a deal to you Ruby. You spent _weeks_ with Ozpin before I arrived, and you didn't think to ask about Summer or your silver eyes once? Ozpin knows the truth, about it all. I can tell. So why would he deliberately avoid the topic?"

"What's Raven been putting into your head?" Ruby asked, clearly taken aback.

Yang ignored her stupid question. The only thing Raven had done was put some scepticism into Yang's previously unquestioning nature. "I'll tell you why. It's because whatever Ozpin did was so bad, that he knows we'd walk away if we ever found out. We're pawns to him. I mean, just look at what he's doing to Oscar."

"Ozpin is…he's a good person," Ruby hesitated, tears lingering at the edge of her eyes. "He's trying to stop Salem and the grimm, and he needs our help to do it."

"Salem's bad news there's no doubt, but what do we really know about Ozpin's relationship to her?" Yang stated plainly, seeing that Ruby herself was starting to look doubtful. "Who was it that told you about your silver eyes, Ruby? Because it wasn't Ozpin was it? It was Uncle Qrow."

Ruby seemed to be lost for words.

"Just don't eat up everything he says like a bowl of cookies," Yang warned firmly as she pushed past Ruby to leave the room.

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked, her expression remarkably more conflicted that Yang had ever really seen her.

"To find my damn arm," Yang mumbled. "Before Winter paints it white and blue."


End file.
